The estimated cost of an emergency power plant to avoid last summer's power cuts has almost quadrupled from €12 million to €46 million, according to tender documents.
First announced during the budget, the plant is to have the capacity to supply an additional 60 megawatts of power should one of the country’s principal electricity supplies suffer damage during peak demand.
In July, Malta endured 10 days of power cuts amid record heatwaves.
The government initially said it would be allocating €12 million for the emergency power plant, but according to the tender results published last week, it has been estimated that it will cost €46 million to lease the emergency power plant for over two years (27 months).
The power plant will be fuelled by diesel and will be located at the Delimara power station. According to the tender document, the installation of the temporary emergency power plant will be maintained and available on standby until the second interconnector to Sicily is commissioned.
The tender document says that the estimated procurement value for this call for tenders was based on “comprehensive research” including financial analysis.
The €46 million will only cover the leasing of the plant, and excludes VAT and fuel costs, which will be provided free of charge.
According to the tender, which is now in its evaluation stage, interested tenderers have till next month to put in their bid.
Earlier this month, Enemalta’s chairman, Ryan Fava successfully appealed to the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) to waive the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the “urgently” needed power plant.
In a letter to ERA, Fava said how energy demand increased by 14 per cent last July compared to previous summers, and anticipated that the demand in summer of 2024 will rise higher.
Lack of renewable energy
Speaking during a press conference on Monday, shadow energy minister Ryan Callus flagged his concerns about the emergency power plant.
He quoted recent statistics, that show how only 10.1 per cent of Malta’s energy came from renewable sources, and how Malta registered the highest increase in greenhouse gas emissions in the EU.
“As we see these figures, instead of the government working to provide more green and renewable energy sources, we are depending on an emergency power station that will run on diesel, only dirtying our air even more,” Callus said.
“Once again, we have a government that has a problem with energy generation and planning for the future,” he said.
Environment Shadow Minister Rebakah Borg and Shadow minister for Climate Change Eve Borg Bonello were also present.